Into the Dark
by Dear Pigfarts. Love the Doctor
Summary: Hermione has found herself in St Mungo's with no memory of anything before the moment she woke up. What happened? How did she get there? Who is the mystery guy from her dream? (Written for a Hogwarts Assignment - Charms)
1. Into the Dark

**Into the Dark**

It's bright - too bright. I don't know where I am.

 _"Run! Get out of here! It's not safe, go!" There were footsteps, then more yelling. Whoever it was was scared. He looked at her and as his eyes bore into her, pleading for her to listen - they vanished. Along with everything else as the world went dark and her eyes closed._

"What's happening?" My voice is hoarse as I try to speak.  
"Ma'am, hello? Can you hear me?" I try to open my eyes again, it's too bright.  
"It's so bright," I hear myself say. Suddenly it's not bright any more. Finally I am able to look around the room. Its small, but nice. The walls are white, the floor is white, and even the furniture - you guessed it: white. There is a sheet thrown over a lamp by my bed and a kind looking woman is standing beside me.  
"Hello, Miss. I have a few questions if that's okay with you?" As an answer I indicate to the seat beside me, but then quickly said:  
"Only if you can answer some of mine?" The woman nodded and took a seat, looking down at the clip board before her.  
"How about you go first?" She offered, obviously trying to make me more comfortable.  
"Okay," I said softly, "Where am I?" The woman smiled, looking around us.  
"St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, Ma'am." _A hospital? What was I doing here?_  
"And now if I may," the nurse (or doctor maybe) began, "What is your name?"  
"My name?" I whispered, and suddenly a feeling of dread washed over me. _What was my name?_  
"I don't know," I whispered, my eyes prickling with tears as my breathing sped up. The girl looked at me, her eyes wide. She got up and placed a hand on my shoulder.  
"It's okay, you're going to be fine," she soothed, obviously sense the panic attack that was closing in on me.

"Next question, maybe?"  
"How long have I been here? And why don't I know my own name?!" I asked, eyes wide. The woman sat back down, looking down at her notes.  
"You've been here for a week. And sometimes patients who suffer a traumatic experience have memory loss - as a coping mechanism." The nurse (or doctor) seemed to be reading out of a textbook with how bland that explanation was, and how familiar it seemed. _Maybe I have read it somewhere before?_ She then asked two questions of her own.  
"Do you have any pain, anywhere? And is there anything you remember from before you woke up?" I thought back to the dream I had been having, trying to find something before that - but there was nothing. I couldn't remember who my parents were, what I ate for breakfast. I couldn't remember the last book I read, or who my best friend was. Do I have siblings? How old am I? Am I well educated? Do I have someone who misses me? Am I late for something? There were so many questions that I had no answers to, and I hated it.

"No, I have no pain... and I remember nothing." _Was that dream a memory? And if so, who was he?_

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 **A/N: Word count - 557**

 **Hogwarts Assignment - Charms #3 - Memory Loss**

 **Tell me if you want me to continue this, I kind of have a plot idea... but I may not do it if no one will read it :P**


	2. Clouds of Confusion

**Clouds of Confusion**

 _It's strange, remembering nothing._

They kept me in the hospital for a few more days, "for testing," they had told me. From the way that they all seemed to tip toe around me, they were all expecting me to break. Maybe they thought I would scream, break something, cry. But I didn't feel like doing any of those things. _Was I the kind of person who did that before?_ There were a few doctors who told me the truth, they didn't bother to cushion it – they just _told_ me. I liked them the best.  
"We're still not sure what happened to you. Your tests seem clear, but there are a few worrying marks on your MRI that we'd like to look into before we let you go," One of the more honest doctors, Dr Evans, had told me. He was holding a folder that every doctor seemed to have. It had J. Doe written on it; _was it mine?_  
"Is that mine?" I finally built up the courage to ask. Dr Evans looked down at the folder in his hands.  
"It is," he smiled. His smile was nice, warm – I felt comforted when he did it. But it also reminded me of someone, or something. This was a weird feeling; knowing that you've seen something – or someone – somewhere, and not even remembering your own name.  
"What does 'J. Doe' mean?"  
"It stands for 'Jane Doe', it's the name we give people who don't have their own." I nod my head, the explanation sounding familiar. Which they said was a good sign in amnesia patients.

One night, I had just gotten out of bed to find the bathroom when I heard some muttering just outside my room.  
"Ben, I don't understand why you keep looking at that muggle test? We have other, faster methods of finding out the same things," a voice whispered harshly. I frowned at the word 'muggle', I wasn't sure I'd heard that one before? Before I could think about it too hard, the man's companion answered:  
"It just doesn't seem right, so I wanted to check every option. Plus, going in to an amnesia patients room and just waving around a wand – it's like we're trying to make her freak out?" It was Dr Evans. Everything they were saying had my head reeling. _Wand? Muggle?_ _What was going on?  
_ "Are you going to tell her?" The first man was talking again, his voice lower than before.  
"Tell her what?" Ben replied.  
"You know? You can't just release her to the world without letting her know. She has the right."  
"I know... but I just don't know how to explain it to her."  
"Simple. Just tell her who she is; leave out any and all speculation – for her protection." _My protection?_ My heart was beating too fast. They knew who I was, and they were keeping it from me.  
"You're right," Ben breathed, his voice so soft now I was almost unable to hear it. They moved too fast for me to hear and I barely made it back into my bed before Ben opened the door, checking on me. I breathed steadily, waiting for him to leave. _They knew who I was..._

 _There were bright flashes of lights and shouts of anger and agony. The man was there again, and he looked worried.  
"Get out of here, go!" He yelled. My body refused to move. His eyes were sharp, but the bags under them showed how tired he really was. His hair, clearer this time, was a very bright shade of red _– _like fire. His hand was on my arm. He squeezed and it hurt, but his voice was what hurt the most.  
"You can't be here, they'll find you. You have to GO! NOW!" I knew he was right, but I couldn't leave. Not when he looked so worried, not when he needed me to stay. The man shoved me in the opposite direction, his chest rising an falling heavily. There were other people behind him now. I did not recognise them, but I knew they were people I used to know. They were dying and they needed my help.  
"Hermione! GO!"_

I woke with a start, my eyes wide as I tried to stop myself from hyperventilating. The dream was still echoing around my head as the nurses came in to check on me. _Hermione..._

Later that day a nurse came in to tell me they were letting me go.  
"Do you think that's the best idea?" I asked Dr Evans, my chest heaving as I felt the (now familiar) wave of panic rush through me. He was walking me to the front of the hospital, and I noticed that there were many rooms I had never seen before. Dr Evans, and a few nurses, had helped me build my strength up by going for strolls around the hospital. We would visit his favourite patients, walk through the psych ward (so they could check up on my amnesia), and sometimes visit the small garden they had out the back of the hospital. But there were places here that I had never walked through.  
"You'll be fine," he smiled, but this time it held less warmth. Ever since I had heard him speaking with Dr Hossier (the man in the hall) I felt like it had severed the relationship we had built.  
"We are going to have people checking up on you weekly, just to make sure." He paused for a second, looking me over. "Usually amnesia patients need something to jog their memory; a familiar place or a familiar face..." His voice just seemed to peter out, his eyes becoming distant.

We stopped at the exit, moving to the side to let a few pedestrians enter. Ben let loose a deep breath and smiled at me.  
"There's something I need to tell you."  
"Yes...?"  
"It's your name – someone in the one of the Psych wards recognised you..." My eyes were wide and my mouth hanging. _He was finally going to tell me.  
_ "Really!?" My voice seemed too high pitched. I took a few deep breaths and waited.  
"He said it was Hermione, Hermione Granger."

 _Hermione... Go..._

Hermione.

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 **A/N: Words - 1,032**

 **Gringotts - (New: Male OC) Ben Evans**


	3. What Do You Know?

**What Do You Know?**

 _Hermione Granger..._

 _That name felt so familiar, yet nothing came back to me._ My eyes refocused and I saw that he was staring at me, and I realised I had gone very quiet. I rubbed my arm, unsure of how to react. My name; _Hermione_. It felt weird to think that I had been called that all my life, and now I don't even recognise it. I shook my head.  
"It doesn't bring anything back?"  
"I thought maybe —" Ben said softly, a pained look crossing his face. "You have no idea..." He opened his mouth again, as though he was about to speak again. Suddenly there was another doctor — Dr Hossier, from before.  
"Evans, we need you," his eyes cut to me as he spoke. "There was another attack and they've all been seriously injured..." cut back, "a lot worse than last time!" There was a pause, and Hossiers' words hung in the air as Ben seemed to consider his option.  
"I'm sorry," he said, his hand on my arm, "I really am." And he was gone. There were so many questions I didn't get to ask, and I felt like I had been cheated of my only chance to ask them. _Who recognised me? What do I do now? And most importantly, What else do you know about me?_

I stared at the door, unable to make myself walk out. I couldn't just leave, I couldn't just give up my only chance to find out more about myself. After I step outside those doors, there is a world of people who either know me or don't. If they do, they will know things about me that I can't remember and I can't have that — I can't not know. So instead of walking out, I walked back in.

It wasn't hard to find Ben Evans again. I just had to follow the sounds of yelling, scrambling, beeping, and emergencies. He was running about, screaming at people about medication or maybe something else. When he saw me he swore under his breath and shook his flustered head.  
"What are you doing here? You were released." His eyes were pleading me to go, and he kept looking over his shoulders at the nurses and other doctors.  
"You haven't answered all my questions!"  
"I'm kind of busy right now?" He said, but his tone wasn't angry or aggressive — it was sad.  
"And I don't really have anywhere to go, so I'll stay right here." I folded my arms across my chest, handing him the instructions one of the nurses had given me. _Apparently these people could help me._ When they placed the paper in my hands I had thought they were crazy, or kidding, but they were totally serious about me heading to Ottery St. Catchpole, in Devon. He looked at me and sighed.  
"Fine," He said softly, "just... give me a moment to help these people, and when I have time I'll come see you." I nodded.

Since Ben was busy with an actual patient, one of the nurses took me to a waiting room. We passed some of the places I already knew as we walked. There was a doctor outside my old room, he was arguing with a red-haired girl who looked flustered and very, very worried.

The nurse had a kind face, but as everyone else did in this hospital, she looked flustered. She told me to wait; that the cafe was down the hall, bathrooms were to the right, and that Dr Evans would be here when he can to talk. She gave me a sympathetic smile as she walked away, one I tried to return but knew it just looked like a grimace.

They had given me a bag on my belongings. Things I came in with and what they found around me. One of them was a small beaded bag which I hadn't yet opened—just big enough for a few small items, and a necklace containing a small black stone. I flipped the necklace over in my fingers, staring at the cracked stone. _Why would I keep this if it were broken? It must mean a lot to me._ I was frowning, staring at the stone when an old man entered the waiting room.

"Who are you here to see?" He asked, a small kind smile on his withered face. I looked up at him as he sat down, across the room.  
"A doctor. I used to be a patient... but I'm not anymore," I said, just loud enough for the man to hear. "What about you?"  
"My nephew and his wife are here," his face dropped as he spoke, "and I'm here to see them; their son is here in a serious condition — I need to tell them."  
"I'm so sorry."

We were both quiet for a moment before I had the courage to ask:  
"What happened to their son?"  
"There was a fight, he was badly injured as well as a few of the others involved," he frowned slightly as he looked a me. "You look familiar. Have we met before?" I shook my head.  
"I don't think so?" But just in case I looked at the man for an extra few seconds. His nose curved slightly at the end, and his eyes brows were bushy but shaped. He did look familiar but not enough to bring anything back. "But I can't be sure... I have amnesia."  
"I'm so sorry," he whispered.

We sat together in silence for a while, but no one came for me. After some time a nurse entered and told the old man that his nephew was ready for visitors, and he said farewell and left me alone. I was not sure what to do while I waited, so I ended up pacing the long side of the room. I looked back to my seat, where the beaded bag lay. _Maybe that bag had something in it to tell me who Hermione Granger was?_ Walking back to the stiff hospital chair, a slumped down next to the bag. I turned it over in my hands, staring at it. Something moved inside it, and it was the strangest feeling and the weirdest sound as I turned it back. _Like a pile of books falling over._ I pressed the clasp between my thumb and forefinger and slid it open.

"Jane Doe!" Ben was at the door, leaning against the frame with a soft smile on his lips. I tried to return the smile as I placed the bag on the chair beside me.  
"Doctor Evans," I said, nodding in his direction. With a sigh and a deep breath, Ben pushed off from the wall, waking across to where I sat.  
"I'm sorry about before."  
"You can't just do that?" I whispered, my eyes trained on the floor.  
"What?"  
"Send me out of here with what? An address? That's ridiculous!" I stood, facing him.  
"I'm sorry, I –"  
"You better have a good reason!"  
"I do." His eyes were wide as he stared at me, and I stared back. My chest was rising and falling rapidly as I stood my ground. "It's just —" Ben stopped. I moved a hand to my hips, and raised my eyebrows impatiently.  
"'Just?' Just what?"  
"There was a big accident, which was where we brought you in from. The address is — well, we knew you would be safe there... if you are Miss Granger," his voice was soft, and he continuously stopped, like he was trying to find the right words.  
"Safe? Why wouldn't I be safe here?" My mind was racing and my head was pounding. _What was happening? What kind of accident was it? Who would be waiting for me at this house?_

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 **A/N: Words - 1,290**


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